Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame Inductee Profile: Michel Dupuis

A foursome of fearsome defensive players and one record-setting receiver have been selected as the 2023 inductees to the Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame. Ettore Lattanzio, Frantz Jacques, Michel Dupuis, Mike Hendricks, and Don Burns will be inducted on Saturday, April 22.

The game is never over if there's time left on the clock 

At training camp in 1995, rookie Gee-Gees linebacker Michel Dupuis heard a coach call his name behind him, and he turned to respond. Dupuis stepped in a hole in the grass field, spraining his ankle. When he tried to return to practice later that year as the team marched to its first of three consecutive Dunsmore Cups as OQIFC champions, he broke a bone in his wrist.

Flash forward to December 2, 2000 and Dupuis is standing exactly where he was meant to be – on the stage at the SkyDome, hoisting the Vanier Cup.

Dupuis's parents were in the stands that memorable day, as they were for much of his football career. The product of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu stayed at home for CEGEP, winning the Bol D'Or in 1992 with Les Géants in the first of his three seasons there.

"If it wasn't for football I would probably have dropped out of school," says Dupuis, thinking of himself before CEGEP. "I wanted to keep playing. That's why I went to CEGEP – the guidance counsellor in high school had told me not to go to CEGEP – he was advising me to take the diplôme d'étude professionnel. But the CEGEP wanted me." 

After winning the Defensive Player of the Year award, and keeping his grades up, Dupuis was ready for a new challenge in 1995. "Honestly I didn't know much about uOttawa because I was just focussed on myself and doing the best I could to bring my team at Saint-Jean up. I wanted more challenge, which was what brought me to university and at the time uOttawa was the nearest university with football where you could study in French. My family could come, and they didn't miss many games. That was a special feeling."

"I was so fortunate going to Ottawa because all six years I was there it was great teams," he underscores. In 1996 Dupuis was a regular contributor on the defence that helped the team repeat as OQIFC champions; he contributed 24 tackles in the regular season and the team held McGill scoreless in the second half of the 20-11 Dunsmore Cup win.

Dupuis clearly remembers the 1996 Atlantic Bowl, and in particular the day following the game. "During the game, it was incredibly windy. It had a huge impact on the game because we were a passing team [the highest scoring team in the country] and they won with field goals with the wind." Two of the four field goals scored by St.FX were from 47 yards, and the final score was 13-5. "The next day we woke up and there was zero wind at all," laughs Dupuis now.

In 1997 the team took the next step, capturing the Dunsmore Cup and then winning the Churchill Bowl to appear in the Vanier Cup. As Dupuis recounts it, "It was an amazing feeling to get to the Vanier. We had such a hard year, and we still got there."

Dupuis remembers many memorable comeback wins in 1996 and 1997, watching fellow hall-of-famers Chris Evraire and Ousmane Tounkara make massive game-winning plays. "It was a really good feeling to know that the game is never over if there is time on the clock."

The linebacker made his own fair share of massive plays: in 1997 he played all three linebacker positions and recorded 36 tackles, good for fifth on the team. He launched a comeback effort during the regular season when he ran back an interception 36 yards for a touchdown to make the deficit 17-7 against McGill in a game the Gee-Gees would go on to win.

"I don't care who I play or where I play, I want to be on the field and have an impact," says Dupuis who also was the team's primary long-snapper for his final three seasons and occasionally lined up at rush end. "I'm not picky or frustrated if you move me around. If you think it's the best for the team and for me to get better, I didn't mind at all."

1998 saw Dupuis lead the Gee-Gees in sacks and he was third in tackles with a career high of 43.5 in the regular season as the team focussed on returning to the Vanier Cup. 

"I wasn't the most verbal, the most outspoken… I was leading by example with hard work, commitment for the team. It's hard to explain. The commitment for the team – you're there to do a job and you might as well do the best you can and help other people get better. Try to focus on the things that matter and not what you can't control."

Injuries popped up again in 1999 and this time it wasn't a hole in the grass. Covering a missed field goal return during a regular season game, Dupuis suffered an ACL injury and had surgery in December.

Still, there was another silver lining. "Maxime Dufault had the same injury the same year and we had surgeries a week apart. We did our rehab together and did our training together. We trained really hard to strengthen our knees." Dupuis recovered enough to report to the Hamilton Tigercats training camp in spring of 2000 but with his knee not 100 per cent, he was back with the Gee-Gees for the 2000 season. 

"I knew it was my last year and we wanted to go to the end. I didn't want to come back empty handed – I wanted to have a piece of that trophy," says Dupuis, referring to the Vanier Cup. "We had been playing together and all the coaches that we had were so intense and motivated to bring us up to where we finished. The whole team made it happen." 

The 2000 Gee-Gees were a dominant team on both sides of the ball and outscored opponents 292-52 over the eight-game regular season. "We had a team that year that was incredible. It was the best defence in all my years that I played football," says Dupuis proudly." 

The season started with emphatic 35-1 and 24-0 road victories before Laval edged Ottawa 14-9 in week three. "The loss to Laval was a good reminder that if you don't focus, you can lose," says Dupuis. "The word Kaizen made us concentrate on what the goal was – it was the focus word."

Ottawa finished the regular season with a 7-1 record and won its two OQIFC playoff matches handily before defeating McMaster 20-15 to advance to the Vanier Cup. Dupuis recorded 32 tackles in the regular season, finishing his Gee-Gees career with 150.5 total tackles in the regular season.

A special energy comes into Dupuis' voice as he describes the 42-39 victory in the national championship. "It was a good thing we started strong!" Dupuis laughs. "We knew they were a comeback team and it was an incredible game, with great players on both teams." Dupuis was credited with seven tackles in the Vanier Cup game.

"The sense of accomplishment… it was amazing to get your hands on that trophy. All the work and sacrifice – it was the best way to finish, on a winning streak like that. The team we had that year was amazing. When we do see each other, it's like yesterday – we had such a good bond. Everyone was together acting as one – it was truly one team working together to make it happen."

The team would continue to make things happen for Dupuis. When he reported to Winnipeg for the 2001 CFL season after signing as a free agent, he was shocked to be released following his medical testing. Dupuis had been hospitalized for a week in 1999 and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He had triumphantly lifted the Vanier Cup with no symptoms, and has lived since 1999 with no symptoms after taking medication for 10 years. However, the Blue Bombers said no.

Gee-Gees defensive co-ordinator Danny Laramee stepped in. "He knew Toronto needed a long-snapper and he made some calls on my behalf," remembers Dupuis. "A week and a half after being let go from Winnipeg, a week where I was really lost and unsure, Toronto gave me a chance to play. And I was very happy to be able to prove that I could play. Getting to the CFL was amazing."

Dupuis played three CFL seasons with Toronto and Calgary and then returned to the Ottawa-Gatineau region. He has served as a member of the Parliamentary Protective Service for the last fourteen years.

He joins the four players from the 2000 Vanier Cup team who were previously inducted into the Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame, quarterback Phill Côté and defensive teammates Steve Alexandre, Mark Pretzlaff, and Lukas Shaver, and is being inducted alongside Frantz Jacques to make the team total six. 

Even rarer, Dupuis is one of just three Gee-Gees players in the Hall of Fame to have been part of four conference championship-winning teams, joining 1960s OSLAA league champions Alan Scanlan and Paul Desjardins. The Gee-Gees no longer practice on grass fields with holes in them, but sometimes it works out right.